Does technology really give new lease of life?

Being the owner of a new iPhone, I donít know whether to have pride or disdain.

As another recent new owner of the phone put it, itís not just a phone.

ďWe have more capability at our fingertips than what they used to put the first man on the moon,Ē he said as he struggled to turn the thing on.

The iPhone is a smartphone that has a touch display screen, data service, an MP3 player and the ability to connect to a Wi-Fi network. The iPhone is manufactured by Apple, and several generations have been released since 2007. It has numerous capabilities in addition to being a cell phone†ó things I wonít ever care to discover.

You see, all I really want to be able to do (besides communicate) is make sure Iím going the right direction. The GPS feature is all I really need. While others insist more is better, Iím happy with less. The more apps there are, the crazier life seems†ó when weíre told theyíre supposed to make life simpler.

My daughter said I could scan items in the grocery store to find out how much they are, along with receiving a list of ingredients. Thatís something I wonít ever use, I thought. I figure most stores are required to provide me with that information anyway.

Another feature she was excited about is the ability to video chat with those you are conversing with†ó providing they have the same kind of phone. That I can do with Skype, over my bigger laptop screen, I told her.

Besides, there are few times when that might come in handy, and why would I want to squint at a small image? When on my laptop, itís a nice feature for a relative I havenít seen for years or a daughter away at college. But for the times Iím just out of the shower or waking up with a bad hair day, thatís the last thing I want to have another see.

Phoning in itself is a nice feature since itís a great convenience tool to stay in touch. Itís when people are constantly on their phones that irritates me. The way I see it, itís just plain rude to be in the presence of someone who is captivated by their cell phone and the more there is to do on them, the worse it gets.

I often think many use it as a crutch to make themselves seem important. Or, maybe itís because they donít know how to communicate face to face. They keep busy by looking at some game to get off the hook of actually making the effort to communicate with eye contact.

Page 2 of 2 - But before heading down the road of another cell phone rant, Iíll stay focused on how this new contraption is supposed to transform my life. As someone who seems to misplace keys and other small items, one feature I read about does intrigue.

Apple released an update for its cloud-based app, Find My iPhone, adding a convenient feature to recover a misplaced device. The app, which gives users the ability to lock, find, or erase a lost or stolen iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, now provides driving directions to the lost deviceís location. As detailed by Apple:

ďThe Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device, open it, and sign in with your Apple ID. Find My iPhone will help you locate your missing device on a map, play a sound, display a message, remotely lock your device, or erase all the data on it.Ē

Now thereís a feature that appeals to the directionally challenged person who misplaces stuff. After all, how could we possibly survive without the device made to make life easy?

Nancy Hastings if a staff writer at the Hillsdale Daily News. She can be reached at nancy.hastings@hillsdale.net.